Rep. Huelskamp: House Should Vote on GOP Obamacare Alternative

As U.S. Rep. Tim Huelskamp sees it, Obamacare is already failing but Republican leadership in Congress has done nothing to implement a meaningful alternative.

“The numbers are there's going to be 2.5 million American families lose a job because of Obamacare, and I don't think Republicans or anybody in Washington should say, hey, it's OK to force you to lose your job,” said Huelskamp, a Republican from Kansas, told “The Steve Malzberg Show” on Newsmax TV.

“But I want to tell you, Republicans, at least in the House, we should be running an alternative to Obamacare. We should pass the American Healthcare Reform Act. We should say what we're for,” he said Wednesday.

Why, then, haven’t Republicans brought a vote on an alternative healthcare plan to the floor of the House?

“Leadership. Leadership,” Huelskamp said. "That lack of leadership starts with Speaker of the House John Boehner and is an impediment to Republican campaigns for the midterm elections in November. If we win this fall, which we can, it will be despite the establishment in Washington, not because of what we're doing.”

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Change could come in the November elections, but it could also come if Boehner, an Ohio Republican, retires next year, which Huelskamp said he expected. But he declined to say who he thinks would make a good replacement – though he pointedly shot down speculation he would run for the position, citing commitments to his family.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s continued attacks on the Koch brothers, the billionaire Republican campaign boosters, are another example of poor leadership in Congress, Huelskamp said.

“It’s desperate. I think what he’s trying to do is fan the flames of hatred and jealousy and greed, and at the end of the day, that is not the American way.”

What it is, he said, is another example of how supporters of the Obama administration work against business and entrepreneurship.

“This is the most anti-capitalistic, the most socialist administration we've ever had in this country, it's so out of touch with the reality of most Americans and, but it's an act of desperation, and they know they're losing in the polls and that's why they always jump up and go after success,” Huelskamp said.